Abstract
Education is the most vital human right for empowering refugee children who have endured a plethora of traumatic pre- and post-resettlement experiences. These experiences can have devastating effects on their psychological, emotional, and cognitive well-being, resulting in unique educational and personal needs. This study employed a qualitative transcendental phenomenological methodology to explore the lived experiences of Turkish refugee college students in order to describe the essence of their lived experiences of undertaking the educational journey from Turkey to the U.S. as a result of the crackdown of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016. This research study was situated within Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, and the conceptual frameworks of resiliency, and identity and belonging. This study used purposive criterion sampling to select twelve Turkish refugee college students who were studying in the U.S. The students participated in semi-structured individual and focus group interviews with open-ended questions to share their experiences in Turkey before and after the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, as well as their experiences of leaving Turkey and resettling in the United States. Their responses throughout the interviews exposed the injustices, human rights violations, and persecutions by the Erdogan government and its supporters, that traumatized the participants, due to their association with the Gülen Movement. Five themes emerged from the data: The July 15, 2016 coup attempt; Forced to Flee; Resettling in the U.S.; Education; Resiliency. The findings revealed that the events of the 2016 coup attempt infiltrated and became the dominating factor that influenced their personal and educational decisions. However, the findings highlighted the resiliency of these students who transformed their traumatic experiences into motivation to rise above their adversity. The results of this study has implications for educational researchers, policy makers, educators, and parents, by providing them with information needed to design, develop, and implement effective programs and strategies that would foster the social, emotional, and cognitive development of refugee students, thereby proliferating their academic success.
